The Israeli war on the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014 worsened even further the already high unemployment rate. Q3/2014 witnessed an unemployment rate of 29.0%: 19.2% in the West Bank (up from 16.0% in the previous quarter) and 47.4% in the Gaza Strip (up from 44.5% in the previous quarter). The labor force participation rate for the same period equaled 45.0%: 70.8 among males and only 18.5% among females.

In the last quarter of 2014 the unemployment rate declined to 26.5%: 17.4% in the West Bank and 42.8% in Gaza. Palestinian women continued facing significantly higher unemployment rate than men: 36.5% versus 23.8%. In terms of age, unemployment was the highest among those aged 20-24 years. Youth unemployment has been a chronic problem in the Palestinian economy. The labor force participation rate was 45.8%. The services sector employed more than a third of all those employed.